Nick: I’m personally very pleased with what i did on Arcadia, because it was something that really needed to be done. An experiment, to experience working with other musicians, to create something radically different and not in such a strict format as the pop group Duran Duran.
John: I said, i really don’t feel as though i need this…
Nick: I’m sorry, you can’t film John. John, as you can see, has not signed the contract. Do you understand that? Ok?
Nick: Arcadia just eminated after six months of searching for a name. One night, it was final decision time and we had to have a name for the next day.
Simon: Poussin painting “Les bergers d’Arcadie”, The Shepherds of Arcadia, shows some standing by a tomb where there’s an inscription “Et in Arcadia Ego” which is really, is that phrase from which we took the name.
Nick: Simon wrote down this thing that said “Et in Arcadia Ego” which is a sort of old latin inscription, with a lot mysterious mystique content to it and it just felt like the right sort of atmosphere for the project.
Nick: Jean Cocteau actually came into the picture because i’ve always had a fascination with his work. I think that he has done some amazing things including some amazing films like “La Belle et La Bête”. Beauty and the Beast is a very important piece of cinema. Now it’s kinda nice with the video, to move towards things slightly more cinematic, i think.
Nick: The album is definitely european sounding, it’s got a little bit of hispanic in it, a little bit of gypsy. I think that Paris just seemed to be the right place for the videos.
Arcadia interview, August 1985
Interviewer: Six months ago Arcadia was black clothes, black hair, the image has now changed considerably. Why?
Nick: Yeah…I think there comes a point when for me personally, when i just get a little bored with something and i feel that i have to change. I mean, you feel totally different when you’ve got some long black hair than when you do when you’ve got short blond hair and for this particular video i thought since it was gonna be a very forties looking Alfred Hitchcock style thing, it would be a little more suited to have, more debonair-air. Can i say that? Debonair-air?
Happy 50th birthday,Nicholas James Bates!
Nick Rhodes - A @duranduran style birthday message from Nick Rhodes!
This is a blog dedicated to the incredibly
fabulous,Nick Rhodes,keyboardist and
synth master of world renowned
pop group Duran Duran
